The Extended Learning Curriculum is a project to create an on-demand web cast series from the Cleveland Clinic Orthopaedic and Rheumatology Care - Quality Innovation Summit to be held on May 13-15, 2009. The educational content of this multidisciplinary conference, which is devoted to exploring the current state-of-the-art in the assessment and management of quality in Musculoskeletal Medicine from the perspective of each of the stakeholders in this process, will be extended to reach a global audience for a 2-year period by capturing and re-purposing selected presentations during the program as an accredited webcast series. Musculoskeletal disorders are the leading cause of disability in the United States, with one in every seven Americans afflicted with an impairment of the bones or joints. Each day, millions of Americans endure such conditions as osteoarthritis, rheumatoid arthritis, and osteoporosis, with the resulting pain, disability, and medical expense inflicting tremendous burdens on individuals, families, and society. Moreover, the impact of musculoskeletal conditions is expected to grow as the American population increases and ages in the coming decades. In response to this dramatic growth in patient populations and increase in the complexity of musculoskeletal diseases, the number of new drugs and devices, as well as therapeutic protocols to treat those diseases, has also increased. This evolution in treatment technologies has necessitated a new look at the methodology and metrics for measuring patient outcomes and patient satisfaction. This meeting, one in a rotating series of Innovation Summits organized by the Cleveland Clinic Orthopaedic &Rheumatologic Institute, brings together physicians, quality management specialists, public health professionals, information technology experts, government officials and patient safety advocates to address the "How and Why" of quality measurement. PUBLIC HEALTH RELEVANCE: The goal of the Extended Learning Curriculum is to extend the live experience of the Cleveland Clinic Orthopaedic &Rheumatology Care Quality Innovation Summit to a global online audience for a 2-year period by capturing and re-purposing selected presentations during the program as an accredited web cast series. The overriding goal is to identify quality assessment practices that effectively measure patient outcomes and that meet the aligned interests of stakeholders, which ultimately, will improve patient care, value, and outcomes.